Sleigh Drive
by Gotheh
Summary: It was Christmas and the Hogwarts castle was lighted and mirthful. Corridors where adorned with holly and poinsettias and tall spruces... it had hardly been anything but a Christmas for little Severus no, his mind was far from visions of sugarplums…


This is actually a pretty old story I finally got around to putting up. I'm kind of embarrassed of it really, because the ending is kind of cliché. I could also never compare to J.K. Rowling herself, and so I spit on my work without shame. I wrote it for my best friend, who was depressed after Snape's untimely death, and needed some cheering up, so I wrote about his character. It also gave me an excuse to write a Snape/Lily fic, whose pairing I've believed in before the fifth book (in other words, before the Deathly Hallows was published) I'm a long time fan of the pairing. p 

By the by, the grammar is bad. REALLY bad. Be warned, because I'm not changing it. You've got your warning... prepare for your brain to be broiled.

It was Christmas and the Hogwarts castle was lighted and mirthful. Corridors where adorned with holly and poinsettias, while thirty feet tall spruces towered in the Great Hall, home to multicolored faeries which looked like animated Christmas lights. Clusters of bearded mistletoe seemed to sprout everywhere over unsuspecting couples that dared to sit together long. There was an aroma of pumpkin pie which hunted every student through the hallways, while ghosts would sing Christmas Carols that had long been forgotten. Almost every painting in the castle wore a bright, rosy smile.

It had hardly been anything but a Christmas for Severus Snape, he wasn't thinking of figgy pudding, nor the thought of warm laughter. No, his mind was far from visions of sugarplums.

Draped in a winter cloak and a scarf, he crunched out into the Hogwarts grounds with his mittens rammed into his pockets. He found nothing remarkable around this time of year, unlike everyone else. The Hogwarts grounds had been transformed with winter as usual: the turrets of Hogwarts had been snowcapped for a few months now, all the hedges had browned and turned thorny, the lake had frozen over, so to Severus it just seemed like everything was dead or dying. What a wonderful time to celebrate.

He made his way down some granite stairs, loose snowflakes scattering under the cape of his cloak. The air was still, and the sky looked as though it had been turned to paper, and someone was shining a light through the other side. Mammoth clumps of flakes gently fell in silence around him, catching on his black, greasy hair like dandruff, and on his shoulders, turning them white.

He glanced up the castle walls cautiously, as if expecting a snowball to be pelted down on him. Although he knew that James Potter had long gone on holiday vacation, with his little possy, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that he was being watched. He sped up his pace and glided down the gentle slope where the Forbidden Forest loomed in the distance. If someone happened to glance outside, Snape might have looked like a lonely period slowly making its way across parchment. It made him feel awfully exposed, but it was no matter, it would be easier this way.

Down he descended, the forest shadow growing ever larger ahead of him, another formidable object reared over a white hill. Its bare, whip like limbs hung low in innocence. It was a giant willow tree, bare, knobby, but serene, as if it where in hibernation. Severus started towards it in long, determined strides. When he was at a reasonably safe distance from it, he stopped and glowered, his eyes constricting, he reached for his wand that rested in his pant pocket...

"Sev?"

p 

As he spun around he nearly slipped in the snow, his heartbeat thrashing for a moment of the thought that one of Potter's friends had followed him here. However, he found himself face to face with a girl his age, dark, red hair tumbling from a woven hat and over a Gryffindor scarf. Her ever shocking, green eyes eyed him warily.

"Lily-? How-what?" he started to say, a wave of relief swept over him, he pulled himself together. "I was under the impression that you where leaving for the holidays."

"Did you?" she said simply in a quiet voice.

"So what brings you back so soon?"

"Home is not the same anymore." replied Lily. "My sister still despises me, my parents don't seem to notice her at all when I'm around. I've tried cheering her up, but it only seems to make it worse. She ignores my existence completely, while my parents treat me as though I where the Queen of France coming to visit." she shuffled her way through the snow beside him and folded her arms across her chest. For a moment, her emerald eyes glittered but she quickly bowed her head to hide them.

"I feel like a stranger in my own home." Severus frowned at her in silence, knowing the feeling of isolation all too well. Then after a while, a small smirk formed on his face.

"Well why don't you just go stay with Potter then?" he chuckled "I'm sure he'd just simply love to have you..." Lily suddenly broke out in medolous laughter. The two stood together, face to face, grins peering from the folds of scarves. Lily seemed to have lost her melancholy look.

"I'm so glad he's gone for the holidays."

"Yeah, me too."

Lily regarded him for a moment, and then turned her gaze up to the Whomping Willow.

"So what are you doing down here?" she asked curiously.

"I-well... " Snape stopped himself. He had not yet told his friend his suspicion of Reemus Lupin. She wouldn't believe him, she always became defensive of her house when he tried to explain to her... prove to her...

p 

"I was actually just going down the Forest." he said quickly. Lily looked at him, her eyebrows hiked.

"All by yourself? On Christmas?"

"Christmas?" Snape echoed. For some reason, he seemed to have forgotten all about it...

"Yes, Christmas!" Snape knew he must have had a strange expression on his face, because Lily had to stifle her laughter again. "Oh Sev, have you even noticed the decorations inside?"

"I-well, yeah but..." he struggled to finish his sentence; an amused Lily was watching him.

"I've got something for you." she said.

"You do?"

"Of course! I can give it to you right now if you want."

"A present you mean?"

"Well what else would it be? Hold on..." Lily was shuffling around in her robes (which seemed to be too large for her) and emerged a moment later with a box wrapped in green and scarlet. Severus knew that he must have still been wearing his strange expression, because Lily looked at him again and laughed.

"You look as though you've never seen a present before!" he felt the parcel being dropped into his hands. He didn't mention that this was the only gift he had received in a long while.

"Thank you." he said happily, and then added "Should I open it now?" Lily was in stitches

"Your so peculiar!" she said affectionately "It's your present, open it whenever you want to." He considered whether opening it here with Lily or back in the Slytherin common room where the others would taunt him. He tugged the ribbon securing the package, and as soon as the knot came undone, the wrapper shuddered, then jumped clear off the present. In midair, it began to rapidly fold itself into the shape of a bird, and as the two of them watched, the bird fluttered its wings and darted into the white sky.

Severus looked down at what the wrapper left behind. It was a book, on the violet cover where the small, engraved words: Discreet Potion Recipes, by Lily Evans Snape looked up and goggled at her, but she was beaming at him and he lost his words before he even thought of them. He flipped it open, where fine, graceful handwriting spelled out: 'Recipe to give speech to smaller, nonverbal creatures.' he turned the page and traced his fingers around, 'Recipe to allow you to become ambidextrous.' On the next page was 'Homemade fata morgana, helps ease nightmares and allows you to control its environment to certain extent.'

He looked up.

"Did you? Where you dabbling with potions Lily?" he asked, feeling a smirk crawl up his face. Her face was pink, but she merely grinned and shrugged. Using potions out of class was forbidden.

"I wondered why you had smelled so much like Nogtail butt." he said, gently thumbing through the rest of the pages.

"Just don't tell anyone." Lily shot back playfully. "Old Sluggy will probably let me off, but won't take it kindly if-" but she was cut off by a loud bang, and both of them whirled around.

In the distance, a shower of red sparks had erupted. Someone was shouting at the top of their lungs from what looked like particularly hideous Christmas sleigh. At second glance however, he recognized that it was one of the carriages that the older students rode to school on, with seemingly no steeds, but what Snape and Lily knew to be thestrals. The driver seemed to have lost all control of the steering, for it was swaying so violently side to side, all the passengers had to run to the opposite side to keep it from flopping completely over.

At first, Severus had a powerful urge to laugh, mixed in with his bitter annoyance, but Lily was pointing frantically into the distance behind the Gryffindors.

"They're having a race!" Sure enough, thundering behind the Gryffidnors was a second steed less sleigh full of Slytherins, whom seemed to be less reckless in their steering. They sent green sparks screaming over the Gryffindors heads, who began to shout lengthy tirades before returning fire. Behind the Slytherins, Ravenclaw was in hot pursuit and made the largest snow cloud of all in order to keep up. Hufflepuff was completely lost in the snow clouds, though their voices shrieked the loudest of all.

"I wonder who will win?" wondered Lily. Severus had hardly heard her, he was still leafing through his book as though it where some sort of artifact.

"Probably the first one to crash." he said.

"What?"

"Crash."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well isn't it obvious?" said an unconcerned Snape "They've got no breaks on those things, and they're heading straight for the Whomping Willow."

"Can't thestrals fly?"

"Not with those harnesses they can't."

Lily looked horrified.

"Well then we've got to make them stop!" she looked around frantically. "Surely they see the tree! But how can we make them slow down?"

"Oh I don't know, I think watching them all crash right after one another might be interesting." Snape mused as he peered over his book at the oncoming sleds. Lily clearly wasn't listening; she had took off at a sprint, her huge red cloak and scarf flapping behind her as drew out her wand. Severus tucked the book away and ran after her,

"Hey!" he bellowed over the dull roar of the thestrals, sleighs and people, he was reaching for his wand as well. "HEY! What are you doing?!" Up ahead, Lily had shouted something, and pointed her wand up above her head. Monstrous, blinding, fireworks erupted screeching and thundering into the air, impossible not to see. Snape caught up to her, but as he tried to speak, his words where lost in the tremendous noise. With a flick of her wand, the sparks of the fireworks exploded in the form of huge, shimmering letters. The huge word, "Finish", hung above as stray sparks and ashes rained down on the pair in spiraling eddies.

Quite suddenly, the Gryffindors swerved drunkenly and unrealistically on its side, nearly colliding with the Slytherins and sending a few their passengers over board. Bearly yards away from the Willow; they now tore after Severus and Lily who stood under the newly designated finish line. Not long after, the Slytherins charged after the Gryffindors, pursued by the angry Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs (if they where still there). Severus felt his insides tighten...

"Good! They're all turning!" exclaimed Lily with relief.

"Yeah, and now their going to plow us over!" hissed Severus. "And we have no where to go!" realizing the flaw in her plan, Lily's smile vanished.

"I'll use a shield charm-!" began Snape, but Lily held onto his arm and shook her head.

"No, then you'll just hurt everyone if you-!" but the roar of the sleds where upon them, and Lily forgot whatever she was going to say next and hurled herself on Snape, holding him so close he completely forgot where he was and what was happening. In the next moment there was an almighty crash and their feet had left the snow, the ground spun and became the sky, shouts where drowned and the snow reared up like a a white wave and engulfed them.

For a few muffled moments, Severus felt his limbs frozen in place, and something very sharp gouging him in the elbow. There must have been at least ten feet of snowflakes piled on top of him, he couldn't see anything, and he had lost grip of his wand. Struggling to move, he managed to maneuver one of his arms and bumped into something solid; he heard a muted squeak though the snow; Lily. Attempting to hold onto her cloak as to not loose her, and with his other arm he groped the object that was jabbing at him. It was either a stick or a wand, so he pointed it beneath him, with snow pouring in his mouth, he shouted

"Prathawduim!"

With a hot, stifled eruption, he felt himself being blasted upward through the snow, for at least a little ways. He and Lily stopped moving about halfway through the bank as the snow dragged them down again, but it was less heavy and more powdery. They where capable to push and swim upward, and finally, for what seemed like five exhausting hours, they where able to shove away the topmost layer.

Gasping for fresh air, Severus didn't yet open his eyes. Even though his face was washed with snow and ice, he was sweating all over. Lily was panting as she broke to the surface beside him.

"I think I lost my wand..." she managed to grunt. Severus opened his eyes and looked around.

The sleighs and people that had run over them where strewn every which way like some bizarre graveyard. One carriage had tipped over and its wheels where still revolving slowly, a dazed rider was still clutching the reigns and sat, frozen, in the coaches seat. The butt end of another sleigh stuck awkwardly out of a random snow bank that seemed to appear out of nowhere. All of its angry passengers where also sticking out of it, some of their legs where kicking as they fought to free themselves, while others where howling lengthy strings of cuss words at no one in particular. One carriage was still upright and going, but void of all passengers, the thestrals pulling it apparently not aware they where no longer hauling anyone as it rolled off into the distance. Under the huge, sparkling words that read "Finish", a plethora of red-faced Gryffindors, Slytherins and Ravenclaws had gathered and where bickering each other, apparently in argument of who had actually won the race.

However, there was one, great holler of joy from behind them and Lily and Snape craned their necks to see the only carriage that seemed to be intact. The Hufflepuff's where whooping and jeering at their fallen opponents, apparently overjoyed by the change in circumstance. Still safely in their carriage, they trotted on by the finish line unscathed, a couple of them waving merrily at Severus and Lily, who watched, bemused, from their snow bank.

"Well that was fun..." huffed Lily, whose face was rubbed pink raw from snow. "Lucky these snow banks showed up." As she struggled to free herself, Snape raised his glove which brandished the wand, and with a jolt realized it wasn't his own.

"Lily I've lost my wand." he groaned.

"Oh great!" Lily with an exasperated sigh "I suppose its at the bottom of the snow bank with mine isn't it? I bet they're keeping each other company..."

"No, this one is yours." said Snape, looking around the snow bank, as if expecting to see the end of his wand sticking out somewhere. Lily had finally liberated herself and was now trying to pull him out by his shoulders. Her cloak was now completely white from snow, and Severus wondered how ridiculous he looked.

"Well if that's the case..." she said as she yanked him up like a turnip, (he had always been lightweight) "then we'll find it before we go to dinner."

"I sure hope so..." he muttered as he handed her back her wand. "Lucky Potter didn't see this, he'd be all over me..."

"Hey good job Sniviullus!" someone shouted from the side of the bank. "You managed to blow the whole entire race!" both Lily and Severus looked around and spotted the spokesman, among about six other people. It was hard to tell what house they where from, for they where also coated with so much snow they looked like little abominable snowmen. The one who spoke however pointed an accusing finger at Snape, who could feel his color draining.

"You let the measly Hufflepuffs win by standing like a woodcock in the middle of the finish line!!" he spat venomously. "What sort of house are you in again? Snivey?" Severus had just opened his mouth to defend himself when Lily retorted hotly back down at them, he could have sworn her hair flamed

"And you just crawl back in where you dug up that nasty remark!" she snarled back at the boy, who looked at her and closed his mouth, face turning pink.

"He sabotaged us!" a small girl chimed in waspishly, her hair was iced unto her face. "You greased the snow by standing there so long Snape, we wouldn't have crashed in the first place!!"

"Severus had nothing to do with the crash. He was trying to help you from killing yourself in the Whomping Willow!" Lily shouted back at her.

"More like, attempting to kill us faster!" shot back another.

"Yeah!" someone jeered. Snape desperately wished that he had his wand back.

"Only you can manage to screw up an entire race, Snivellus! I bet he even conjured up those snow banks as a practical joke. Clever little roach, thought he'd have a laugh at us did he?"

"SHUT UP!" fumed Lily. She whipped out her wand and pointed it at the lot of them, who all froze at once, all their eyes widened simultaneously.

"Now Lily, we were not accusing you of anything..." a boy said nervously as he backed away a step. The rest of the group recoiled as well, and those who had managed to release themselves from the snow banks stopped to watch. Everyone knew how talented Lily was at charms... Some people where even reaching for their wands.

"Yeah, lets be reasonable here..." said another boy.

"Reasonable?!" Lily glowered all around at them. "All right then, be REASONABLE, and put these sleighs back where they belong, then go back to opening your Christmas gifts!" Everyone seemed to shudder, there was a few mumblings and grumblings.

"And if I ever catch you guys having a row with my best friend again..." she pointed at the first boy who had spoken. "I won't be so reasonable." With that she whirled around and grabbed hold of Severus's arm, pulling him down the snow bank with her. She practically dragged him as he fought with the urge to throw something.

"But Lily, my wand-" he began.

"We'll get it later." she growled, but her grip on him slackened. "I don't want them making fun of you."

"I can take it Lily, I really can… I really just want my wand back." Snape spoke urgently, glancing over his shoulder. The kids where collecting themselves and raising the carriages, or helping each other out of the snow drifts. Lily slowed her walking, but didn't stop.

"Maybe you can take it, but I can't." she murmured "...I just can't"

"It's all right, honestly-"

"No it's not all right!" Lily whirled on him. She stopped and they looked each other, breathing heavily, puffs of white vapor rising between them. "I don't like it when anybody makes fun of someone. I hate it when someone picks on someone because of who they are, especially you..." her voice suddenly cracked and she dropped her gaze. For a moment, Snape thought she might cry, and he reached out and touched her shoulder. He had the feeling of what she was thinking about... the fourth day of school she had been called a "Mudblood", and Snape was forced to explain to her what it had meant...

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be! It's not your fault, you're not like that." Lily's voice sounded slightly strangled. She tottered forward against him, and Severus wasn't sure if it was a hug or an unintentional overflow of emotion.

"You've always been nice to me though, you're not like anyone else in your house." she said in the softest voice possible.

"You've always been nice to me too." he said, with a small little smile "Your like nobody else I've ever met." Slowly, he reached up to touch her hair, perhaps just to pat it, or even run his fingers through the locks, but then his fingers met something hard and cold instead. He froze, confused, then tugged on it, wondering what it was.

"Ow-hey!" Lily protested she stepped back from him, but Snape was already behind her, investigating what he had found. He tugged on it again, a little harder.

"Ouch!!" Lily said, trying to slap away the invading hand "Quit it!"

"But it's my wand!" Severus snickered, trying to get through the net of of frozen hair and snowballs. "It's frozen in your hair!"

"Your wand?!" Lily was holding unto her hat to keep it from slipping off "Can you get it out?"

"I think so..." said Snape, grasping the handle and gently sliding it out of a snarl of ice. She turned to look and he showed it to her. "Good thing you didn't summon it, that would have hurt." Lily laughed.

"I can't imagine how it got there..." but then she stopped. Her stomach had let out a loud, wordy gurgle. "Gosh I'm starved." she looked up at the sky, and to both her and Severus's surprise, it was now a a shade of dark periwinkle.

"It's nearly dinner! We'd better get back to the castle." Lily began to march back up to the school, which had become shadowed, the yellow lights inside casting golden light on the fresh fallen snow.

"I guess." shrugged Severus, trailing her. "I've still got got to give you my present."

"Oh cool! I can't wait to see it..."

"I'll give you a clue to what it is... it has to do with your favorite animal."

"Good grief! You didn't try to smuggle a deer into the school did you?"

"Of course not! No it's much better than that..."As the two friends ascended the hill, from a distance it looked as though a pair of periods where making their way across parchment.

"You know," said Snape softly,"I don't think our tables are going to let us sit down after what happened down here."

Lily looked over her at him and simply grinned.

"Oh well, I'm sure the Hufflepuff table has room." she said. He chuckled.

"Happy Christmas Sev."

"Happy Christmas Lily."


End file.
